A Year in the Life - Review 2017 - 2018

Review 2017 – 2018

www.sthelens.london

A Year in the L ife

02 | A Year in the Life | Welcome

Welcome to ‘A Year in the L ife’ of St Helen’s.

In such a community of wonderfully bright, energetic, creative and inspiring young people who contribute much and achieve so highly, it’s almost impossible to select just a few stories that showcase the heart of the School, but I hope nonetheless that this magazine gives you a flavour of what makes St Helen’s so special.

Every student, in the Prep School, in the Senior School and in the Sixth Form, is part of the future of the School and they, as individuals and as a group, shape it, enrich it and give it its character. Each of them brings their very own gifts and talents and shares them with the community.

This is a celebration of the life in our School community – trips and visits, events, celebrations, pioneering initiatives such as our St Helen’s University, sports and drama, art and music – with the spirit of St Helen’s weaving its way through everything that we do and everywhere that we do it. These moments make me, as the Headmistress, so pleased and proud to work with such wonderful, optimistic and talented girls and young women. I hope our whole School community will remember and treasure these wonderful moments.

I hope you enjoy being immersed in the life of the School and I look forward to exciting new chapters in the years to come.

St Helen’s storyline begins here….

Dr Mary Short Headmistress

03 | A Year in the Life | Welcome

04 | A Year in the Life | Drama

Drama

In the whirlwind of the academic year, there are always touchpoints, things we come to expect and to anticipate, such as

our outstanding drama productions.

05 | A Year in the Life | Drama

06 | A Year in the Life | Drama

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his year they included a remarkable and experimental promenade production of Woyzeck, during which the audience were immersed in the inner turmoil of the central character. The Glove Thief, took us to the heart of that most intriguing of historical relationships – that between Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots.

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Our actors, technical crews and backstage teams were outstanding.

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On a lighter note, the Prep School’s production of The Wind in the Willows delivered pure joy, as did our joint production of Oklahoma! with the Merchant Taylors’ School boys in December.

08 | A Year in the Life | Music

Music Alongside drama, music has long been at the heart of the School.

09 | A Year in the Life | Music

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his year we have seen the standard of musical performance rise markedly, along with increasing opportunities for girls to get involved, at any level and across genres and styles, and in orchestras, bands and choirs. Our Founder’s Day Concert was a terrific example of the girls’ ensemble brilliance.

10 | A Year in the Life | Art

Just as music may be one student’s centre of gravity at St Helen’s, art is another.

11 | A Year in the Life | Art

Art

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Winner

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e are constantly amazed by the talent and potential of our artists. Their skills are nurtured, developed and celebrated throughout their time at St Helen’s.

14 | A Year in the Life | Art Art, creativity and theatre were also on show in our annual House Arts competition, this year won by Shackleton.

Our girls get to make a song and dance of just about anything!

15 | A Year in the Life | Art

16 | A Year in the Life | Sport

Sport is central to students’ lives.

17 | A Year in the Life | Sport

With tennis, rugby,

(our U13s and U15s did brilliantly at the London Youth Games Rugby Tournament winning the Silver Medal and Plate Competition respectively)

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swimming, gymnastics,

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lacrosse, badminton, netball and athletics

(our Junior and Senior teams both won the Borough Cross Country competition, a triumph of teamwork),getting involved in sport is at the heart of wellbeing and happiness.

20 | A Year in the Life | Sports

21 | A Year in the Life | Sports

22 | A Year in the Life | Sports

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Our Sports Days always have ‘happy’ written all over them and we were equally happy when former pupil, parent and governor, Janet Kirchheimer, officially opened our new all-weather pitch, a project that has been close to her heart (and indeed ours!) for many years. Janet has always had a passion for sport and a belief in the value of girls developing their potential through sports-related activities.

25 | A Year in the Life | Sports

26 | A Year in the Life | Events

Events

Whether it’s working as a House Team or going it alone out of an aircraft (Khadija’s 3500 ft parachute jump – the first undertaken by a St Helen’s girl through the CCF) our students relish challenges.

“The view as I parachuted down was breath-taking and the feeling of floating freely in the air was truly unique”.

The CCF has created other very special moments, including joining the Remembrance Day parade in Ypres – as the first contingent in the country to be invited to carry out that honour – and taking part in the Anzac Parade at the Cenotaph. We recognise that these events have significance to our students, as well as to the nation and the Commonwealth.

27 | A Year in the Life | Events

Khadija’s description of the moment she left the plane, of falling through the air and becoming completely lost in the wonder of the moment will stay in the mind for a long time.

28 | A Year in the Life | Another special moment for us every year is inviting the wider school community into School for a day of (and the clue is in the title) ‘Fun’! This year’s themed ‘Daisy Fest’ was opened by the Mayor of Hillingdon and families and friends enjoyed rides and stalls, competitions and music, food and drink, all in glorious sunshine.

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30 | A Year in the Life | Events

We treasure our relationship with the wonderful parents who run our PTA and this was a great day to showcase this.

31 | A Year in the Life | Events

Sometimes the moments we most remember and treasure come in unexpected ways – such as being able to

break a code at Bletchley Park.

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e’ve also had brilliant fun deciding who should win the Carnegie 2018 CILIP Book award “Most of us were in favour of ‘The Hate U Give’, a book tackling issues of racism. So we were surprised to learn that ‘Where The World Ends’ was chosen as the official winner,” said Milli and Libby in Year 8.

And we were delighted to be on the podium driving our own designed and engineered Armadillo (Mark II) and Frogbot robots to silver medal position in the regional Rampaging Chariots competition!

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Finding out how to build and engineer circuits on a Design and Technology day, was amazing.

33 | A Year in the Life | Events

We loved being our favourite literary characters for Book Week!

34 | A Year in the Life | Events

35 | A Year in the Life |

We work closely with Merchant Taylors’ School to help change young peoples’ lives forever by supporting them through Phab Club..

We are one of the longest serving and leading Phab Clubs in schools.

Nothing matches those moments at Phab week when our students are completely focussed on the needs of another person, less fortunate than themselves and provide such affection and thoughtfulness, balanced by a robust and mature sense.

This year, Phab Club looks forward to the charity patronage of the Mayor of Hillingdon, who is becoming a firm friend of the School.

36 | A Year in the Life | Events

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38 | A Year in the Life | Trip & Visits

Trips & Visits

Epping Forest, Knebworth, Bhaktivedanta Manor, The Black Country Museum, Verulamium, Hooke Court, The Golden Hinde and Kingswood in the UK

39 | A Year in the Life | Trip & Visits

We are always keen to explore different countries, communities and cultures, and this year our trips and visits have included

40 | A Year in the Life | Trip & Visits

The Black Country Museum

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Bhaktivedanta Manor

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Epping Forest

Kew

The beach

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K ingswood

44 | A Year in the Life | Trip & Visits

45 | A Year in the Life | Trip & Visits

46 | A Year in the Life | Trip & Visits

Madrid, Boulogne, China, The Chateau de Chantereine, Venice and the Bay of Naples.

We are always delighted when the School is congratulated by members of the public on the exemplary behaviour of our girls.

Boulogne

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China

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Montpellier

It gives us a lovely warm glow when we are asked by onlookers what school we are from, and then to hear how impressed they are by our students - just going about their business of learning and being themselves.

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The Bay of Naples

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Venice

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Each year a growing number of students are invited to St James’s Palace or Buckingham Palace to receive their Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards from a member of the Royal family.

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he Gold Award is a tremendous achievement for recipients, staff and parents. The journey starts in Year 10 with the Bronze Award and the staff who accompany those expeditions get to see our students at their very best.

Talking of awards, we were also thrilled to welcome the Zonta Club to present Sixth Form student, Hannah, with the ‘International Young Woman in Public Affairs (YWPA) Award’ 2018. It builds on the St Helen’s tradition of developing the next generation of women leaders.

54 | A Year in the Life | St Helen’s University

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ut of uniform, off timetable, making the most of the School’s amazing 22 acre site and following their own schedule of talks, classes, adventures and independent work, Middle School students were able to choose from six themes of Creativity, Culture, Performance, Science & Technology, Society and Wellbeing – creating their own timetables and deciding for themselves what they wanted to gain from the experience.

55 | A Year in the Life | St Helen’s University

And our students being their very best came to the fore with the launch of our first St Helen’s University.

56 | A Year in the Life | St Helen’s University

57 | A Year in the Life | St Helen’s University

58 | A Year in the Life | St Helen’s University

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ith diverse subjects including Rainbow Rangoli, archery, abseiling, exploring the tradition of tapas, photography, media and journalism, forensic analysis and theatrical make-up workshops, exploring the French Revolution and learning how to play cricket, the students found themselves in unique environments in which they were able to work individually and collaboratively to master new skills. Each of the sessions on offer took advantage of the experiences and expertise of St Helen’s teachers beyond their academic disciplines, and enabled them to share their love of learning. It was a huge success!

59 | A Year in the Life | St Helen’s University

60 | A Year in the Life | St Helen’s University

61 | A Year in the Life | St Helen’s University

62 | A Year in the Life | Speech Day

Speech Day

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e were honoured to welcome Penny Marshall, Class of 1981, to give our Speech Day address. Penny is currently the Social Affairs Editor for ITV News and with her career focused on telling the stories that need to be told to a global audience, she engaged and enthralled the girls with a rousing speech about the importance of writing their own life stories, making the right choices and following their own pathways to fulfil their interests and passions as well as their potential.

63 | A Year in the Life | Speech Day

64 | A Year in the Life | A New Chapter

A New Chapter

We hope all our students take a leaf out of Khadija’s book and step out into the air and survey the world knowing that they will land safely, perhaps in a different field from the one they were expecting, but landing safely because they have the intelligence, the knowledge, the strength of character and the guidance of all that they have gained at school and been given by their families. We also hope they will embrace and relish every single moment of the journey.

65 | A Year in the Life | A New Chapter

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f course, every academic year comes to an end with the bidding of fond farewells to Year 13s, who are about to embark on a new chapter in their lives. We wish them all every success in life whether that be in exams, in careers, in the families they build, or in the communities they lead.

66 | A Year in the Life | The Last Word

The Last Word

Our closing lines are courtesy of our outgoing Head Girl, Bethany Brown

“The thing that sets St Helen’s apart is that it is a kind, loving community”.

These are some of those moments, we hope you enjoy sharing them with us.

67 | A Year in the Life | The Last Word

“It gives us confidence and courage in our convictions, compassion and the ability to communicate and in doing so, prepares us to be good citizens. St Helen’s is not an exam factory, it is a good person factory, with all the little movements playing an important role in the assembly line, building character. However, there comes a time that we all have to leave school and cast our nets wider. But we can all do it with our heads held high, knowing that we can achieve whatever we set out to do. Always look forward, but every so often have a glance behind you to see where you’ve come from and to remember all the little moments that make you, you.”

The End

Now a whole new story begins...

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